


you rose from the ashes; skz.

by arrowthroughtheheart



Category: ITZY (Band), NCT (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band), Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Murder, Gen, Humour, Kinda, Mystery, Tags May Change, book-inspired-fic, mentioned ATEEZ Ensemble, mentioned other kpop artists, movie-inspired-fic, secret agents!AU, stray kids centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-20 18:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19382512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrowthroughtheheart/pseuds/arrowthroughtheheart
Summary: There was nothing Jisung is more grateful about in his life, for he has found his family and they supplied him with home. The feelings get more intense when he's also one of the selected few that brought all of them together, but something does seem a little off.And what can Jisung do about it?





	1. head on a silver platter.

**Author's Note:**

> hi i am back with something longer than just a short story now. yay.  
> for the record y e s, i did just watch MIB not so long ago and my imagination went wild. also for more refferences, read the book kiki strike. while this is not a straight carbon copy of those two, i feel like crediting where my ideas came from would be nice. aHeM.
> 
> with that said, i'll still try my best to make yall understand the whole plot since i struggle in doing that, so. FEEL FREE TO HANG ON AND OR CRITICIZE ME EHE.

* * *

>   _You remember nothing._

* * *

 

Jisung slams his glove-covered fist on top of an unsuspecting intruder, feeling the man’s bones crack loudly under his knuckles. Satisfied from eliciting a loud groan that turns into a scream from the now kneeling man, Jisung dodges the punch that was making its way to him from the back - close to chuckling from the amateur’s attempt on hurting him.

They should’ve known  _ better. _

There’s no hurting Han Jisung, and in return; there’s no hurting Stray Kids.

Though, Jisung does hate being outnumbered, but the last thing he wants to do is to drag the higher-ups into much trouble than what they’re already into, but also too embarrassed in seeking help from his younger, trained, but less experienced  _ agents.  _ He’d hate seeing that tall, new, agent again, too. . . What was his name? Hyung- Hyon- Hyunjin?

He was  _ way  _ too attractive for an agent who’s supposed to lay low and be unseen all the time, but then again - Han Jisung can’t say that he himself isn’t.

An offended gasp escaped his lips when he felt something hit his shoulder lightly before bouncing off back into the distance, and Jisung sighs in defeat. “You all never learn, huh?”

That was the last anyone has heard of him for the last few minutes, and even though that information alone could get anyone in a storm between panicking and worrying about agent Han - Stray Kids knew better. And the intruder warning has yet to breach another level, so, with all due respect, Mr. Han is doing a  _ great  _ job at holding them back.

A chuckle in his in-ear was the last thing Jisung needed to hear, since it usually signals his defeat. Although not  _ literally _ , since Stray Kids never did face any defeat - Jisung feels like it is, if he doesn’t finish his job on his own.

_ “I feel like you’re in need of help, Agent Han.” _

The accent gave it all away, and if the guy talking to him wasn’t their  _ boss _ \- also known as their leader, the one who found them et cetera - Jisung would’ve cursed out loud. “No, I’m perfectly fine,” he took a moment to pull out the heavy metal-based bat that has been tied onto the side of his leg to shove it to someone’s neck with a slicing motion.  _ “Agent Bang,”  _ he finally concludes, deeming it dramatic enough after the pause he improvised a few seconds ago.

_ “Oh? You sure you got it all under control?”  _ Another voice joins in, and it almost sounds like his boss was slightly offended by someone else shoving him away, but since it’s none other than agent Seo, he lets it slide.  _ “Because I don’t know if you’re seeing this, but there’s one of the tiny flees that is now… ascending, up the elevator,”  _ agent Seo continues, amusement clearly written all over his face.

“Hm. You two really enjoy sitting all the way up there, looking down at me doing all of your dirty works for you, huh?” Jisung sighs, looping his right hand onto the chains that moves up along with the elevator, making sure he’s staring right into agent Bang and Seo’s eyes as they look down at him from their - and also his - office above.  _ “We didn’t ask you to do anything of the sort? Your ego was just to big for us to handle, hence why we sent you down there.” _

“And I didn’t ask to be one of the founding fathers of Stray Kids at the young, and prime age of 27, either, but did you see me complaining?”

_ “Han, 27 isn’t young-” _

“Shut up. A head is going to be delivered  _ right  _ to the front door,” Jisung says in a melodious tune, “just as you like it,  _ Master _ ,” he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, shutting his in-ear off right after he hears the groans of disgust and other elements of complaints from the two other agents.

He swung himself on the  _ still  _ elevating elevator, looking down at the rest of the intruders he just killed or. . severely injured, while squinting his eyes up at the metal box that is the elevator. “ _Is this one just a coward or is he holding a bomb of some sort_?” Jisung thinks to himself, making up false stories with his _very_ active imagination about this one intruder above him, floating in the elevator box as a grin spreading out on his face at the thought of scaring a little poor lamb to death as he climbs up the edges of the metal box to press on the emergency stop button.

There’s a very obvious distressed and curious sigh from inside, and Jisung took the time when the elevator halted into a stop from the response of him hitting the button to climb all the way to the next floor - where the elevator was supposed to open its door up and the intruder would be allowed to come inside, gun shooting everywhere - to force the door open, taking in the bright white lights of the clean office into his eyes before he took a position, standing with his best posture to welcome the intruder inside the elevator.

And then he turns off the emergency stop button.

The elevator music turns back on comically, a little bit too loud for Jisung's liking since he flinches at the boring and repetitive slow beat of the classical music - but the whirring of metal lifting the elevator back up boosts his interest a little.

So, when a loud ding is heard on the 9th floor, agent Han is ready with a sword behind his back and a billion dollar smile on his face. The door slides open, as one being with the same uniform as the others Jisung had defeated looks at him in surprise, as if his poor brain can’t comprehend how the exact man he was running away from is already _here_ , right in front of his face. Jisung almost felt pity.

“Hi, there!” he chirps, albeit too happily, and a girl who is holding a silver plate beside him - a young agent from the other headquarters he called a few minutes ago - cringes at how nice Jisung sounds. 

“You’re not supposed to be here, guy I've never seen before! But I guess you _knew_ that already, since you're over here snooping into one of the most secured headquarters there are out there. So.”

And without sparing any second, he reaches out to caress the man’s neck. Gently. With the edge of his very, sharp sword. Like the romantic he is,  _obviously._

_ Slice. _

 *

“Agent Han, I am  _ not _ holding onto this for any longer. Look at it, his blood is spilling all over the plate,” the girl beside him sighs, showing little to no interest at the head on top of the silver plate. “And it’s spilling over my hand too. . . Ugh. Disgusting. You told me you needed help for an important task, you bastard,” she continues, a pout forming on her lips.

“Exactly, agent _Shin_. Do you not realize who this is?” Jisung raises his eyebrows, making the younger girl tilt her head, a bit offended by the nonchalant tone Jisung is using. “Yes. I do. Which is exactly why I asked you;  _ why are you concerned?  _ Sure, he’s a leader of some human-trafficking organization, but that’s too little of a deal for Stray Kids,” she replies, a little bit more confidently this time - since she saw a chance to complain  _ and  _ flatter the older at the same time. “Dare I say, with all due respect, it’s too little of a problem for  _ any  _ of us.”

Jisung threw her - Shin Yuna, the youngest agent from the newly made ITZY headquarters who specifies in protecting newly made material weapons for the upcoming World War - a smile as he pats her head softly.

“Well, then, your job here is done for the day, agent Shin. Thank you, I’ll take that,” Jisung reaches over to take the bloody mess that is the human-trafficking leader's head. Yuna huffs, clearly disappointed at the sudden stop to her work. “I barely  _ did  _ anything today. What will I say to Hwang- _ nim  _ when she asks me what I did to help you today? She’ll kill _you_ when she knows all I did was punch some pathetic intruders, you know that right.”

And that was true, partially. Jisung knew the younger agent - who he treats like an actual younger sister - was recruited after Hwang Yeji - the young but well known leader of ITZY - discovered the girl's talent in blowing things up in less than the time you usually take to wipe your ass. In all honesty, testing such things on your  _own_ house, like what Yuna did, was indeed dangerous, but that was what it took for her to be recruited by the -  _crazy_ \- Hwang Yeji. Not to mention Yuna can also do a bunch of martial arts, which explains why Jisung has been keeping his distance from the girl who is almost a whole decade younger than he is.

“Aw, come on. Cheer up a little bit, Shin. You told me nothing was going on for you at your headquarters and I was a bit too. . . _overwhelmed_ with our new recruits, so I sought for your help. Count it as also giving you the freedom of field training. Was I wrong to do that?” Jisung’s speech softens. He remembers the days when he was also, eighteen and useless. Well, he’s sure he was even more useless than little Shin Yuna here when he was eighteen. “No,” Yuna replies, looking down at the ground, seemingly trying to recollect her thoughts.

“And you did a  _ lot _ . Some of what you did is helping me make agent Bang over here a bit happier, because you know what?” he motions Yuna to come closer.  _ “This bitch right here," _  as he points to the bloody head, " _ was the guy who took away Bang’s sister.”  _

The information made Yuna a little bit giddy, Jisung noted - and satisfied - since he knew how much Yuna marvels over the three of them, well,  _ two _ , since she’s been seeing Jisung more than she ever needed but she hasn’t met Bang or Seo yet, but also because Yuna in general is such a nice kid with a drive to do good things and to choke everyone who isn’t following the law until their whole face turns blue and they cough from the lack of air that supposedly fill their lungs.  _ What a ball of sunshine. _

"See? Look at you being a hero for your hero," he chuckles. “Okay, screw off. Get yourself some ramen or something, it’s been a tough day,” Jisung pats her shoulder twice, and Yuna remembered at the last second to bow in front of her senior before she scampers away down the elevator. “Make sure you tell your Hwang- _nim_ that her brother is _still_ a dick! In probation!”

_ * _

“That was such a nice speech, coming from you. Never would've thought _the_ Han would pull that out of his ass,” the oldest among the three of them - Bang Chan - said, muttering the words, almost like he’s holding in a laugh. Jisung rolls inside with his wheeled office-chair to put the head on top of the luxurious, meeting table, only greeted with the stoic expression in a now-morphed-into-confusion face of Chan and in the disgusted face of Seo Changbin.

Not _disgusted_ , mortified.

“You psychopath, this is a  _ nice  _ table, Han Jisung. And you've spoiled it with the blood of the people you just murdered- You actually  _are_ like a misled puppy, aren't you? Showing off what you just hunted? I swear to the Lords above, you don’t know how to appreciate the nice things you’ve brought upon yourself,” he grimaces, almost shoving the head out of the way in anger before he looks down, realizing  _ who  _ it is. The soft and amused, “Oh,” and the grin returning to both his and Jisung’s face made Chan raised his eyebrows.

“Indeed. Good boy , agent Han, but the blood  _ is  _ staining the wooden table.”

The short reply made Changbin and Jisung look at each other, a little bit confused and startled all mixed into one; a question.  _Why did he went along with the puppy joke, is he into_ that _? Why is he not a little bit happier, isn't that what his vengeance-filled brain is supposed to do?_

“I take it you don’t like my gift, Bang?” Jisung sighs, folding his arms upon the table. It is quite hard to please the older these days, and Chan’s mood hasn’t been exceptionally well since he hasn’t stepped foot onto the actual case itself for almost more than half-a-decade.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m very amused. But if you think I’d want  _ us  _ to stop here, you’re mistaken,” he smiles. It’s been a while since he smiled that way; with a glint of mischief and something  _ else  _ flickering in his dark brown orbs, and in moments like this, Jisung wished upon whatever gods are up there - so that kids who look up to them, much like Shin Yuna, who he just shooed off a few seconds ago, don’t get the chance to see  3Racha  like this.

“Hm, interesting,” Changbin lifts his chin from the nice protection of his folded arms. “You want  _ all  _ of us to do something. It’s been quite a while, boss.”

Jisung frowns, still unable to catch on to the few missing plots - but summed it up with his absence from a few moments ago and his inability of catching subtle hints. “Wait, what are we doing? Another illegal thing?” he raises his eyebrows now, not really liking the shared smirk that Bang and Seo are doing. “If you can really call it that, Han,” Chan reaches to the opened cupboard behind his head. “Here, come look.”

Spread out in front of his very eyes are a map. Jisung knows his way around maps, knowing also how much and what kinds of maps there are out in the world, but to his own embarrassment, he doesn’t know what map he’s currently looking at right now. “Uh. . . So this is supposed to be-”

“A map.”

Jisung rolls his eyes on Changbin’s direction, the older only slightly ashamed of his dry joke as a hand got slammed softly on top of the map. Chan’s.

“Of the  _ underworld. _ ”

Jisung felt the tip of his nose twitch as he tries to down his laugh, unable to backpedal if he goes as far as laughing at their boss in front of his face about something he sounds so serious about. “The under-  _ boss _ , we’re playing Hades and Persephone now?”

“No, no, no, it’s not  _ the  _ underworld. It’s just the world under,” Chan, thankfully enough, doesn’t look offended. In fact, he looks so invested with what he’s talking about, and it greatly warms Jisung’s heart that it looks like their leader is standing back up on his feet after five years of rotting away in a boring office. “You remember that one time, a long time ago, when it was only the three of us?”

Jisung nods eagerly, excited to get over the whole storytime and actually get started on the mission.

“When you got thrown into a dug-out, opened hole in a cemetery by a mutated gorilla and you fell  _ through  _ the casket instead of into?” Chan continues, growing closer to his point by the second. 

It was a pitiful day for Han Jisung, as he wasn’t as experienced as he is now back then. You know, what he said. Eighteen and useless. But his eighteen-year-old self might turn out to  _ not  _ be useless after all, if both Chan and Changbin is over here still discussing about that day. “Um. . . Yeah?”

“ _It was funny_.”

The deadpanned look on Jisung’s face was enough to earn a cackle from Chan when Changbin cuts him off just to make fun of Jisung, again, but he rests his hand on top of Jisung’s shoulder not so long after he lets out that laugh. “You remember telling us that you saw a whole  _ city  _ down below, and you were lucky that you only fell on the top of the cliff and not into it, where there was a river with a strong current and all that?”

“Yes, yes, I get it! It was a bad day, now what’s your point?”

Chan leans a bit back to point at one tiny red dot he drew on the map, and upon closer look, it’s an animated version of Jisung.  _ Woah, that’s so nice, it actually looks like me-  _ Jisung’s train of thought was cut short and his brain cirquited back to the memory from nine years ago, taking in every single detail of the nicely drawn map and comparing them to his memory, that is only vaguely there.

The river was shaped like that - and Jisung can even hear the strong and windy current wafting back up to his unconscious face, like that day nine years ago, where he can hear Chan and Changbin calling out to him. . . from up there. . . for him to climb back up-

“Han Jisung?”

Chan’s face looks concerned, but also like he just hit a major jackpot. He knew he was right, and Jisung zoning out just confirmed it even further.

“I remember where it  _ is _ . Oh my god, I remember? For the first time in forever, I’ll be useful, for once, I-” 

The two older men shared a look between them before Chan reaches out to stop Jisung’s ranting from going off-course. “Hey, hey, Jisung?” the calming voice made Jisung look up at the older, smiling softly in delight. “Yes?”

“You  _ are  _ useful. Okay? Remember that.”

“Huh. . .” Jisung etches a larger smile on his face. “Thank you,  _ Chan _ ,” came out as a small murmur across the silent office, and Changbin stood up from his chair, a little trail of excitement following him outside. 

“Yeah! Now let’s tell the kids.”


	2. Miroh; 미래.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The city down under.

* * *

>     _You don't trust._

* * *

 

Before we dive head first into whatever Stray Kids is currently working on, I think it would be nice for you to understand a few things you  _need_ to know in order to relish yourself more in their story -   _was a quote that was written on their flyer._ Stray Kids' flyer, to be exact. Yes, they had one of those boring pages that promotes themselves using ridiculous words and whatnot.

Chan made sure that only people he  _wants_ to recruit gets those flyers, since he doesn't want anyone non-trustworthy to know what they really are, also explains why he made it so interesting and intimidating in the same time; like putting the sentences "If you don't want in on whatever I'm recruiting you for, you will die," and "We're all nice and friendly here, even if some of us do look scary sometimes," in the same paragraph. Right next to each other. He thinks it's efficient.

It proves to be efficient, indeed, though - since all 6 of the thin but shiny pages of paper he sent out return in the hands of the few most talented agents in their generation, and they're all welcomed into the safe haven that is the Stray Kids headquarters.  _Safe, until now, that is._

There's three of them in the newest batch Chan just hatched into existence, one being the youngest and another one being the  _newest_ in this field of work, and the other one almost too pretty to be a Secret Agent. But that's all fine and dandy, since, according to Chan himself - they all live up to his expectations. Nobody knows how Chan observed any of them before he calls them in, and no one ever asked. Some things are better. . . left alone, maybe.

According to order of their arrival, there's Hwang Hyunjin - who goes by Agent Yun ( _spelled Yeon in Korean )_ , since, agent  _Hwang_ is a name taken by his twin sister, Hwang Yeji. According to Jisung, Hyunjin would be better off somewhere he can actually make money of his pretty face, which was a compliment from Jisung's side but Hyunjin didn't take it kindly and from then on there's been a slight buzz of disagreement among the two of them. Then there's Yang Jeongin - who goes by agent I.N, since  _Yang_ is the surname of a famous criminal almost everyone decides to not mess around with unless absolutely necessary. He's 19, and he's truly a gem. The latest on arriving was Lee Minho - who goes by agent Lee Know, since agent Lee is taken by someone you will soon find out about. He came to the headquarters with an almost disinterested look on his face, but as soon as he saw Chan, Changbin and Jisung welcoming him at the front door - his whole expression changed. No one knew why, and no one asked. Minho is just unique like that.

And before the three of them, there's another batch which includes another set of three people. People - who knew who they are - called them the Pioneer Recruits, and they were recruited a few years earlier. Kim Woojin, who goes by agent Kim. Lee Felix, who goes by agent Lee, and Kim Seungmin, who goes by agent Min. People know nothing about any of them, since they've never seen the light of day unless the time has come for them to go out on a mission.  _But_ they were included in the flyer! Along with the 'founding fathers' of Stray Kids, as they like to call it - agent Bang, Seo, and Han.

With that said, none of them are excluded from what's about to happen.

*

Even though Jisung shortly realized when he left the office that even _he_ doesn’t know a single thing about their mission, it must’ve been connected to Chan’s long lost family. He doesn't know, though. He just had a feeling.

“This one is kind of. . . personal, per se,” Chan says.  _See_ , Jisung thinks, leaning back to his chair.  _I should just be a psychic. Less death threats and less physical movements._

Chan's sentence made Minho chuckle, if only a little - since Minho is weirdly scared of the older. “Boss, when _hasn’t_ it been personal? We’re basically hired assassins at this point in time, just with extra detective work slipped on to my desk make sure we don’t kill an _ex-_ president or something,” he says. Ah, forgot to mention. Minho doesn't do physical work, always. He types. On his computer.  _But then again we've never went on an actual mission with these new kids,_ Jisung lets his eyes rest on Minho for a bit too long. With a final glare from Chan, Minho shuts up.

“Thank you for giving us new _titles_ , agent Lee Know, but I’m sure some of us here won’t appreciate being called assassins. Am I right, agent I.N?” There's a moment where Jeongin froze, unable to indicate why his name was called by their boss from the front of the room, but noticed how he shifted uncomfortably at the mention of themselves being called 'assasins', and that Chan caught his slight movement. Interesting. The youngest grins, deciding that a simple nod is going to stop the attention from being on his face, so he does exactly that.

“Right. As you all know, the human trafficking has been here for over a hundred and more years, and with that, a bunch of other similar-but-not-always-related criminal activities latches on, since the former has been under the radar long enough that these other criminals think they're safe enough to enroll,” he rolls the map open on the gigantic table they have on their basement where both Jeongin and Hyunjin just finished cleaning the remnants of the intruders Jisung took care of.

“Which, is. . . _foolish_. But when are they not?" Chan sighs, running a hand through his hair. "And for over a half of those years, we never figured out how they got away with it. Well, got away from the Police Department that would never do anything about it, since it's always _too big for them to handle_ - but if the Police Officers won't get on with it, it’s our job to go _bang bang pow_ and obliterate them into dust, now, isn’t it?”

He lets the room fell into silence, and he can feel every single pair of eyes looking up at him. They still don't get it. He doesn't blame them.

“So what _is_ this?” Minho stares wide-eyed at the map, leaning forward to catch a good glimpse on the whole thing.

“Uh huh, and how is it. . . personal?” Hyunjin continues, eyes fixed on Chan instead of the map.

“And why is it suddenly our job, if you don’t mind me asking?” Jeongin tilts his head to take a good look at their founding fathers, half of his vision is covered by Woojin’s broad shoulder.

The corner of Chan's lips twitched into a victorious smile - one that Jisung and Changbin knew all too well. He hasn't been this enthusiastic in a long while, and seeing the signature smile again made Jisung feel like his old gears are turning, and it's creaking inside him like an engine starting to life.  _Little does he know, though, something else is creaking with it._

"Well, kids," Chan raises his eyebrows.  _"Welcome to Miroh."_

“Miroh is a city - maybe, compiled by mostly large tunnels they built underground a long time ago. It existed for many purposes, mostly entertainment and. . . on dark times, isolation rooms,” Changbin took it upon himself - _after Chan nudged him on the shin, though, that was his push_ \- to explain where they are going.

“There were also private rooms where people store their golds, silvers, and every _other_ treasure anyone could mention, but most of them died before the plague - the dark times I mentioned, it was a plague - weakened and never managed to return into Miroh, or the famous alternative on why there's so many dead things down there; they didn’t think the plague could harm them, ignored the warnings, got down there, got sick from the plague that was still lurking - then died. But all sorts of death aside, it also has gigantic ballrooms and a few passage to use as an exit to the outside world, each one leading to a certain store. According to the notes we've compiled, there's one that could be the most dangerous,” he drops a pin on top of a red block on the map. “The Central Bank.”

Jisung doesn't like the tone Changbin uses there. Whatever, Jisung doesn't like Changbin in general.  _That's a joke he was joking-_

“There are some inactive and or actively used passages into and out of Miroh, all of them are signed here and last checked back in 2014, which makes this a little bit tricky. But, lucky for us; there are also notes about which doors can trigger an alarm that would get Police Officers swarming around it in a second - like the passage to the Bank, of course - and which alarms they would ignore since it’s less important, in a way.”

“Buildings and houses that has an entrance is stamped with _this_ logo on it, and even though we believe that it could be hard to see on bright daylight, keep an eye out. Oh, and to add to this map of the city,” Changbin looks up, glimmer of hope written across his face, shown to the rest of them. “ _They_ unlocked almost every door ever. We don’t even need a map of the pipes, since it’s all opened.”

Chan stifles a laugh. “ _She_ won’t leave a door locked, for sure.”

And the way Chan and Changbin shared a laugh disturbs Jisung once more as he stays silent in the corner, feeling Felix’s curious eyes on him. He can't return said man's questioning glare right now, though, since he doesn't even know what this uncomfortable feeling is.

“Sorry,” Woojin, who got baited into asking, finally voiced his thoughts. “Who are _they_ . . . and this _she_ you’re talking about?”

Jisung's eyes travel back to watch the duo that is Chan and Changbin, feeling ridiculous that he's the only one who's in a hassle about this whole thing just because he doesn't know the whole story. He used to be a little calmer than this, but then again, he can only blame the fact that he's been inside the office for too long and right now he's just a little nervous. Jisung had long forget the fact that he can always trust his guts. But the fact that Woojin shot the question calms him down a little bit, and he smiles at the other - though unseen.

"Ah, a question I’m not interested in answering,” Chan smiles at Woojin, who is now frowning slightly. “You will know, maybe. You _could_ know, or I could just leave you wondering for the rest of your life? That is not the point right now,” he folds the map up to tuck it back into the tube it came out of.

“Oh, right. And to answer the  _other_  question; agent Yun - human trafficking relates closely to the missing case of my sister which dates all the way back to 2014, and even though I was already an agent for five years back then, I was not able to find her. A great shame upon myself, to be brutally honest, but I’m hoping for a chance that I do not fail this time. And maybe, kick some mean-asses along the way. Any of you interested in tagging along?”

Jeongin can be heard processing Chan's answer in his young and fresh brain, and when he jumps into conclusion - he  _literally_ jumps when he concluded the answer to his own question, it's a trait of his - Woojin turns around to smile at him fondly. “Oh, so _that’s_ why it’s our job now!”

“Smart conclusion, agent I.N,” Chan pats his head while he leaves the room, and the youngest among them laughs, mostly to himself before he is on his feet, dragging Woojin along to grab lunch.

*

“Is this your first actual field job, agent I.N?” Woojin asks, a cup of coffee in one hand and another cup - filled with ice for Seungmin - and he watches as Jeongin nods, albeit a little bit unsure of his own answer. “Well, techically, it's not. But it is, you know, after I got. . .” Jeongin looks around, debating on his choice of words while observing the environment around him before he looks back at Woojin, continuing with a hushed voice just a little louder than what you can imagine a snail would sound like. “ _Placed_ here?”

Woojin looks up from his cup, eyes meeting a few other pair from the curious employees who work for them - but they mostly had their attention on Jeongin. Everyone is always so blown away by how bright and how much of a genius the agent is, and to top all of that of - how  _young_ he is was always the one topic that gets people's jaw to drop.

It’s not like Jeongin is inexperienced. Everybody knew he's far from it. Minho is a little bit more of a 'freshman'(?) than Jeongin is - in this line of work - but then again, you don’t always see a 19-year-old agent with an experience on stalking and killing people _legally_ for almost a half of his life.

And even before he got ‘placed’ - as Jeongin called it - in Stray Kids as their youngest, newest recruit, he already had a name for himself out there. Which surprised all the other members at the time, when he just popped into their basement with the widest smile on his face and Chan’s right hand around his shoulder.

 _"That_ Yang Jeongin?". .

. . .was basically what most of them thought. So, simply put, young little Jeongin an idol around here. Basically. And almost everyone who works for Stray Kids knew that they're not really supposed to idolize the people they work for since - they're in the lying business and these aren't the men you're supposed to look up to since they sometimes, do, kill or lie. Or both in the same time - yet, they won’t miss a chance to take a good look at him.

 _Which_ , Woojin concludes after a while of indulging himself in pity over the young kid, _can be a little uncomfortable._

“Don’t worry, I.N,” he nudges the younger’s side softly in hopes of making Jeongin feel a little bit more at home and not just as a character they all knew beforehand, “I’m sure you’ll fit in well.”

“I sure hope so,” Jeongin replies, another smile creeping up on his face. “But I’d be a tad bit happier if the mission isn’t underground. Gets me depressed,” he cracks up laughing, and Woojin isn’t sure if he’s supposed to be concerned or understand the joke as it is. “. . . _Right_. Shame,” he says finally, hitting the elevator button that says ‘up’. “Did you know, depression can also be caused by the lack of Vitamin D?”

Jeongin mumbles on and on, and Woojin reciprocates Jeongin's high tension with his calm and more mature personality - but he must admit, seeing the younger gets comfortable around the headquarters made him smile a bit. The warm kind of content feeling is flooding back through his veins, and this made Woojin's eyes crinkle while he smiles.

Woojin remembers when he went on his first mission, too. Remembers how excited he was for it, how he tried to not show anyone but failed as his seniors knew right away; Chan quirking an eyebrow at him with a lopsided smile decorating his lips.  _"Why are you so tense, kid?"_

Ah. Felt like a long time ago.

 *

“Though I did _not_ specify,” Chan bursts through the door into their meeting room, eyebrows united in the middle of his forehead, clear sign of how frustated he is with himself for forgetting the one thing that is most important in meetings. Assigning duties. “I’m hoping each of you did research? And came up with conclusions? _Differently?_ ”

“Clothes,” Felix chimes in - already seated inside the meeting room since a half day ago, too busy in his own world of scratching designs on his fireproof papers, his signature glasses hanging low from the chain around his neck. He waves a well-finished and detailed paper he ripped off his own handmade book in front of their boss’ face, smug written across his face.

“Guns,” Jeongin smiles, and Chan almost got a whiplash from seeing what the younger is holding and how bright the smile on his face is. "Right, Jeongin. Thank you. . . Aw, are you cleaning them for us, how nice?"

“Backpacks,” is Hyunjin's research, an encyclopedia of the many materials of the World War II's Soldier's bagpacks opened wide in front of him, but he's busy with something else on his notebook instead.

“Oxygen masks!” the over-dramatized Minho pulls himself closer to the table.

“ _Rats_ ,” Seungmin deadpanned as he storms in behind Chan, a whole tower of book on the tiny vicious rodent stacked up on his folded arms.

"Wait. . . what, Seungmin?" Changbin chuckles, fixing his monocle to see the younger better. Seungmin's face shows that he's in no mood for anyone to laugh at him, but he also looks like he's proud of the research he's done through the day and night, evident from the eyebags he's just now invest in. "Don't ask. There's going to be a  _lot_ down there."

Chan let out a whiff of air through his nose, satisfied with his team’s answer. _See, this is why he chose each and every one of them._ “Thank you. I mean it. I had a lot in my mind when we last held our meeting and I just didn’t remember at all to give any of you a part in anything, and for that I am sorry,” he looks over to Jisung and Changbin, who look back at him immediately, innocent smiles on their faces. “But _some_ other people forgot to remind me, too.”

“Either way, it is my fault. But let’s not dwell on the past and let's get moving to the future, shall we? Felix, go ahead."

The young man's previously bored and tired eyes lit up in some sort of excitement as he stands up. The designer is wearing a lab-coat of some sort, a white one at that, and it made his whole under arm black as cinder since they've been laid across his sketch for weeks now. And topped with his blonde, wild hair from focusing on tying every loose ends together, Felix looks crazy. But that doesn't stop him from sharing his view of their clothing with the world.

"Alright, alright, kids listen," he slaps his paper on the blackboard - yes, normal blackboard, a billion dollar organization can still have that - with a little too much excitement, and he turns around. "I know some of you might have not seen me in action and might  _doubt_ my fashion skills and how good you might look in the costumes I make, but worry not!" He steps aside, letting the rest of the room grace their eyes upon his sketches.

It's Hyunjin - which explains why Felix said what he said about not seeing Felix in action yet - very realistically drawn, and they can see how Felix drew the body and the almost completely erased outlines of Hyunjin's hands and feet, but either way, the uniform on him looks  _intimidating_ , to say the least.

"Now I know sometimes the tight-fitted material for catwoman-like uniforms are easier to make for my  _poor, poor, eyesight_ \- but for all of you I don't mind putting a little bit more effort on sewing these slightly less tight material of clothing togehter. You know, so it can slip on and off easily if we wanted it to," Felix stops when he heard a snicker across the room followed by a loud whack. " _Not like that, assholes_ ," he grimaces, but the smile returns to his face when he continues talking.

Chan looks like he's quite impressed, honestly, and Felix returns to his seat with Hyunjin tailing behind him to get a better glimpse on himself, the figurine that Felix used to design the whole suit. 

Hyunjin's backpack is made from the material that looks, feels, and weighs like a light sack you can find in any kind of navy-based shop - but then again this material is knife-proof, waterproof, and with that - his presentation was finished. There's really nothing else to worry about with their backpacks, since they're not about to carry something like. . . a newly cut  _head_ or something, so he went back to Felix to discuss on how to sew their things together with as little amount of time as possible.

While Jeongin is still looking small as ever while cleaning each gun and other related weapons thoroughly, making sure none of them got clogged and fired back at any of his members and while Minho stuffs the oxygen masks he insists on bringing - and Chan lets him, since he doesn't want anyone to panic - Seungmin walks up to the middle of the room.

"Okay, rodent scientist. What do you have for us?" Changbin rests his chin on his hand.

Seungmin looks as unbothered as ever, but the slight look he gave to Changbin - who is sitting beside him - and the tiny almost unseen smirk that follows is something new from Seungmin. He's usually just, that. Unemotional, never speaks unless needed, way too practical, and never uses his brain for witty answers whenever anyone teases him. Kim Seungmin is always too much of a genius for any of that. But he just reacted to Changbin teasing him, and now he's giving the older a knowing look.

"If you know what you _really_ know then you'd know why my research on rats are really important," Seungmin states, eyes floating back and forth from Changbin to Chan and then back to his books, leaving the two older speechless.  _The power he holds._ By this time, Jisung is almost convinced that Seungmin is a sociopath.

"Well, as our reliable boss Chan and our respected senior Changbin has found out about the old notes  _someone_ left behind upon entrances, exits, logos, opened-up doors and whatnot - I have delved deeper into the other type of notes this someone left behind and finds out how many rats are actually down there," he continues, scratching behind his ears. "Disgusting, really. I would much rather we shoot each and every one of them, but as adviced, it would be better to walk under there while  _not_ drowning in a sea of dead-rodents. I came across this."

Seungmin whips the old, yellowed book to face the crowd of several other people in front of him. "Before you ask, boss, no I did not steal this from your so-called Secret Chambers only agent Seo and Han is allowed to enter," he makes a face, "you left this in the library and I figured I would use it to research since, everything else important was taken."

"But this," he points to the rough sketch on the book, nicely done, but from all the years of seeing Felix draw - Seungmin can tell that the sketcher didn't mean to draw as a hobby. "It's called * _Reverse Pied Piper_. The person who wrote this book was more in love with rodents than he was with humans, and so his research of what started out to be how to kick rodents out of the city New York turns into how to  _save_ them. Foolish, might I add, but then again who am I to judge. He quits his research on the  _Reverse Pied Piper_ since it was way too evil, he thinks - because it scares rats away for making a sound in a frequency humans can't hear, but the memory of the sound alone can make them stay away as far as they can and never return. Some say mother  _rats_ leaves their baby rats after hearing this shit, too."

Seungmin cackles. "Wonder what my mom heard that made her left me on your doorsteps, huh."

Chan notices the silence in the room as soon as the words left Seungmin's lips and he shares a look with both Jisung and Changbin. He needs to change the topic,  _now._

"Okay, but if he quits his research. . . Is there any way that you can  _make_ this- reverse thing or whatever?" Chan questions, leaning over to close the book, Seungmin looking at his every moves while he does so.

"Don't be old, agent Bang - though you  _are_. Everything's on the black market these days," Seungmin chuckles, a spark of something mischivieous evident in his eyes. "All you had to do is ask the right person."

Chan cringes inwardly at this, weighing the options out of the fifty different ones he could take out of said problem.

"I was hoping to not get in contact with anything like that, but," he tilts his head, noticing how hard-headed and unmoving Seungmin can be, all the time. And he's right. The younger is looking back at him, eyes  _almost_ challenging, as if he's trying to make a point about himself - that he's not just someone who got in as a Pioneer Recruit because of pity.

Because he  _was_ left behind in front of Chan, Changbin and Jisung's door as a kid, wide-eyed and afraid - hand holding onto the one string of hope he got left, taking form as a plushie he still has until now. Back then, Seungmin was taken under their wings because they  _had_ to. That's how it felt for him this whole time. Back then, when he still let himself feel feelings, when he would smile and laugh like a kid everytime his Jisung- _hyung_ would come back home with blueberries, warm from the sun. When he would cry when Changbin- _ssi_ \- who gets mad when he got called 'father' - has a blue and black mark across his cheeks and he would stop crying when Changbin assured him he just fell from the stairs. When he would hug Chan - Seungmin called him with his name, since the older assured it's fine - everytime the three of them comes home from work a little bit happier than the day before.

When Seungmin thought they all had  _normal_ jobs.

Seungmin was there when the whole organization was put into place, he was there when their hopes and dreams drifted together peacefully and he was absolutely there in flesh and bone - yes, without ugly flyers and convincing cringy words -when they asked him to be  _one of them._

Only for him to feel like he's been cast away to the side, having no significant talent or skill that Stray Kids needs to grow and prosper as a whole - seeing more and more talented and experienced young men come through that door he watched got built everyday, and feeling like his pride got crushed more and more each day. He used to be proud of being the first. Now?

Now he's just content on  _not_ being left behind.

He thinks Chan doesn't know this. And Chan lets him think that way.

"Alright, agent Min," Chan states, and Seungmin looks up from the sudden wave of flashback that hits him out of nowhere. Weird. "We'll do it your way," he continues.

_"We trust your judgement."_

Seungmin stops twirling his pen, eyes locked into the middle of the room as he walks back to his table. He shouldn't feel this happy, this - this is just a tiny bit of what he wanted to be acknowledged of, he shouldn't be. . . proud, yet. But here he is, feeling like he's back to being 13, living in a house filled with warmth and the feeling of familiarity with three older boys he has considered as his own family, more than what his family by blood meant for him. Here he is, feeling like that one time Chan did a little cheer with one of his eyes covered by bandage all the way down to the half of his shoulder - celebrating the fact that Seungmin  _finally_ reaches 150cm on his wall-ruler thingy.

The moment was locked way too deep in his memory for him to remember, if not for this one split second where Chan declared that  _they_ trust him. That they wouldn't even blame him if things go South from then on, and the fact that he would sacrifice himself before it even happens.

These kinds of moments, Seungmin treasures.

These kinds of moments make him think, maybe it  _was_ better for him. That her mother left her there, in front of a worn-out apartment which consisted of three rowdy young secret-agent boys.

They gave him a better family.

They gave him home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Reverse Pied Piper : reference from the book Kiki Strike. it looks just like a pied piper, if i remember correctly, just w a different use!
> 
> whew.  
> if yall have questions, please, go ahead and ask!!!!!! I don't- bite. :) and i love replying to comments so it's a win-win situation;)  
> also their ages are not like how they are in real life, and if you want to know someone's age spesifically, once again, please, do ask. uwu.  
> but from oldest to youngest  
> bang chan, kim woojin, seo changbin, han jisung, lee felix, lee minho - hwang hyunjin, kim seungmin, yang jeongin.
> 
> yea i think that's it.


End file.
